Surfer recalls shark attack: 'It felt like a bear trap'
"Just, like, a lightning strike -- the shark came out of nowhere," Matt Bender told ABC News from his hospital bed on Sunday, describing the attack. "I just felt it chomp down on my arm. It felt like a bear trap."
He added that the shark's bite "shredded my arm," but it "immediately let go, and it was gone in a flash."
The 40-year-old avid surfer from Winter Park knows the waters off New Smyrna Beach well and was in just 5 feet of water when the attack occurred.
Bender said in the aftermath of the attack, he used his leash as a tourniquet, got on his belly, and used his surfboard like a boogie board to get back to shore safely before flagging down a young girl and her dad for help.
"I was yelling 'help.' They saw the blood. They reacted well. I wasn't freaking out. And I think that was a huge blessing," he recalled.
Lifeguards and paramedics treated Bender there on the sand before he was taken to a hospital in Daytona Beach, where he underwent surgery on his arm.
"Apparently, they had to repair a lot of stuff. It was a pretty long surgery, but I can move my hand, and it looks like a good prognosis, so I'm very pleased, and I feel very blessed," Bender said.
New Smyrna Beach, located in Volusia County, reported eight shark bites last year and has seen more than 300 unprovoked shark encounters since the 1880s.
Experts say the area's combination of bait fish and consistent surf breaks creates ideal and sometimes dangerous conditions for both sharks and surfers.
Despite the close call, Bender said he hopes to be back in the water in a couple of months.
"It just comes with the territory. I'm very fortunate that it wasn't worse," he said. "It's sad, because it is dangerous, but it's just the place to surf if you're in Florida and you want to surf."
Bender said he has seen multiple sharks there while surfing, but he still goes because it has the best waves in the state.
"I've seen great whites out there, believe it or not -- I saw one eat a sting ray right in front of me," Bender said. "You don't really think about them in Florida, but we have every species out there apparently. I've seen great hammerheads that are 15-feet long."
Bender's shark encounter comes amid a string of shark sightings across the country: Recent sightings in New York caused alarm over the holiday weekend and forced multiple closures at Rockaway Beach.
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